“Loving our Neighbours as Ourselves.”
The Lenten season offers us a special opportunity to focus on what Jesus Christ teaches us and to renew our spiritual and Christian life at St. Clement’s. Appropriately, part of that is renewing our commitment to care for and serve people in need in our neighbourhood, country and around the world. Each Sunday in Lent we will highlight one of the five areas that St. Clement’s Outreach Ministry supports through your generous giving. We ask that you prayerfully consider how you might support one or more of these areas in 2023.
In 2017 as part of our commitment to the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, St. Clement’s began funding 2-$5000 scholarships through Indspire’s Post-secondary Scholarships for Indigenous Youth program. Now due to a matching donation program our funds provide scholarships to four students. In partnership with Indigenous, private and public sector stakeholders, Indspire is focused on improving access to education for First Nation, Inuit, and Métis students by helping them overcome barriers.
The Church of St. Clement, Eglinton Scholarship is distributed annually to Indigenous students who are attending post-secondary institutions with demonstrated financial need, with a preference to students studying in academic social sciences (i.e. psychology, counselling, social work, etc.).
From a recipient of an Indspire scholarship: “Thanks to you, I will be able to pay for my tuition and move forward in building a brighter future. When I graduate, I hope to create programs that focus on intergenerational trauma that help Indigenous communities heal and work towards reconciliation.”
St. Clement’s Outreach also supports the Toronto Urban Native Ministry, which works out of Church of the Holy Trinity in downtown Toronto as well as out in the community. TUNM interacts with more than 8,000 lives annually through providing counselling, spiritual care and referrals to community services. TUNM supports traditional Indigenous Spiritualities and world-views as well as Christian Spiritual practices, showing that they can walk together in harmony.
Donations to Indigenous Scholarships and Support or any of the 2023 Lenten Giving causes can be made through the Donate page on stclementsto.ca/give, the CanadaHelps website canadahelps.org/en/charities/the-church-of-st-clement-eglinton/ or cash, cheque, credit card placed on the collection plate, in the mail or dropped off at the church. Please ensure you indicate the weekly Lenten cause that you are supporting with your donation or if you are choosing to give to the General Outreach program.
For more information please pick up the 2023 Lenten Giving brochure from the Welcome Hub or email outreach@stclementsto.ca.